


Have Another Round On Me

by Samhildanach



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Everyone is Dead, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, other characters not mentioned in tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 33
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27193546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samhildanach/pseuds/Samhildanach
Summary: This will eventually (read: hopefully) be a story with 108 chapters, all 108 words long. Not actually 108 words long, though. 108 words according to fanfiction.net's insane doc manager word count. Anyway, each story is generally set in its own alternate universe, except for a couple in the og universe, and they do not form an overarching story of any kind. Some are quite sad, some (I like to think) are quite funny, some are very fluffy, and others are just bizarre. If you have any prompts or suggestions, I'd be ever so grateful!
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Clarisse La Rue/Chris Rodriguez, Katie Gardner/Travis Stoll, Percy Jackson/Zoë Nightshade, Thalia Grace/Percy Jackson
Kudos: 13





	1. Flowers

Percy walked through the borders of his old home, sighing loudly.

_How long has it been? Thirty years? Forty?_

Percy walked slowly, holding an enormous bouquet in one hand and a ragged journal in the other.

He walked to every cabin, pausing at the door of each one, as if remembering fond experiences.

He opened the door of a few, as if to check if anyone remained.

He went inside the Athena cabin, and opened the journal to a picture of a young Annabeth.

He smiled as he placed the journal on her bunk.

He walked out wistfully, and began to place flowers on each of the graves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is still one of my favorites, 30-odd chapters in. I've decided I'll explain a little of each chapter here on ao3, because I didn't on ff. I wanted to keep the word count 108 for each chapter. But It doesn't matter so much, here, because the word count is based on ff anyway. This chapter is kind of self explanatory.


	2. Percy Thinks of Zoe

As Percy looked up at the night sky, his mind began to wander.

Images of the monsters he had fought and friends he had lost flashed through his mind.

But one loss weighed more heavily on his mind than the rest put together.

The loss of Zoe Nightshade.

He remembered as he gazed at the wound at her side, paralyzed.

No one moved. No one tried to save her.

There was nothing they could do.

He remembered her last words to him:

_"I am honored that you carry this sword."_

He remembered her last word to the world:

_"Stars."_

Percy trudged on, never looking at the stars again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another fairly self explanatory one. Perzoe is my OTP so a lot of the chapters feature that ship, but most of them aren't.


	3. Zoe Thinks of Percy

Zoe paused, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, images of Percy Jackson filled her head.

She smiled.

She immediately shook it off.

 _No. I cannot think of him. Not now. It is not proper. No hunter is permitted to think of any man,_ especially _me._

Still, Percy invaded her thoughts fairly regularly.

He was becoming a nuisance.

She tried her usual technique.

_Think of what happened last time. Herakles. Herakles. Herakles._

_But Percy is not Herakles._

_Shut up._

_Percy is different. Better!_

_No! All men are the same. That is the only constant among the years, besides the gods._

_But not him! He sacrificed what Herakles saved!_

Zoe forged on, unblinkingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an AU where Zoe survives. Maybe Percy gives her Anaklusmos, and she absorbs her immortal power from it, hmm?


	4. Bob Cleans a Spill

Bob sang as he mopped.

_I have a lot of friends!_

_Percy is my friend!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

_Nico is my friend!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

He paused, trying to come up with the next verse.

_Percy is my friend!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

_Nico is my friend!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

He paused again.

_Percy is my friend!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

_Nico is my friend!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

_Bob is my name!  
_

_The guy with a lot of friends!_

_Because Percy and Nico are my friends!_

_I have a lot of friends!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I cry while writing this? Yes. Yes, I did.


	5. Bravery

He was a very strange man.

He was always helping people, but not because he expected to gain anything.

He didn't even seem to feel good about helping them.

No. I think he just had an incredibly strong moral compass.

I asked him about it once.

He smiled, with a thoughtful expression in his eyes, as though he, too, often thought about that.

He didn't say much.

He told me he did what he did because it was right.

I think that's why he was so brave.

He did what he thought was necessary, no matter how terrified he was, or how crazy it seemed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a boring one. Not my best work.


	6. Percy Studies

Percy hated studying.

Oh gods, he hated studying.

Especially English.

Letters doing flips across the page, dancing, as if being controlled by some evil puppeteer.

The only thing keeping him from beaming the textbook at the wall was Annabeth's words of encouragement.

_Keep going._

_I know you can do it._

_Just a few more minutes._

Gods, was he lucky to have her.

He glanced over at Annabeth, and suddenly he felt his chest compress, like an elephant was sitting on him.

At first he thought he was having a heart attack, but his heart was beating like a bass drum.

Love sucked.

But he still loved her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A pretty good one. You can consider it as occurring in the original universe.


	7. Katie's Dress

He saw her drawing something.

It was a person wearing a dress.

The face was only slightly above par, but it paled in comparison to the detail of the dress.

The dress was covered in flowers, and was shaded beautifully.

As he stood by her shoulder, he tried to say something witty.

Just as he was about to speak, someone came over and sat next to her.

He walked away thinking about how oblivious they were.

All day he thought about what he was stopped from saying.

_I was trying to think of something witty to say, but I have to tell you: that is really freaking good._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my least favorite chapters. It just feels stupid. It's Tratie, by the way.


	8. Another Student

Homer once described Ajax as a wall, towering over other men.

It was plain to see the Fates had taken this demigod's namesake to heart when creating him.

There were plenty of taller men, him being about 6'2" or 3", but he was built like a mountain.

He had a nearly visible aura, radiating pure strength.

I could see him vaporizing monsters through the sheer power of his will.

I could also see pain.

He tried not to show it.

But I knew that the reason he was so terrifying was that he himself was terrified.

He needed someone.

A mentor, guide.

Someone like me.

Chiron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also dislike this one. This is not Percy and Annabeth's child, by the way.


	9. Percy's Dream

Percy started dreaming before his head even hit the pillow.

Unlike his usual dreams, this one didn't try communicating in any way.

What he saw surprised him.

Zoe and Calypso were talking, halfway submerged in a ball pit, like the ones at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Zoe said something about a pink towel, and when they noticed him, they started giggling like twelve-year-olds.

It was then he noticed the small blonde child, whimpering and clutching at his leg.

He tried to comfort the small girl, clinging to his leg like she was going to fly off if she let go.

It all seemed perfectly normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is stupid, but I like it anyway. The small blonde child is not Annabeth.


	10. Percy Wakes

Percy woke up in a cold sweat.

He had had a nightmare.

He put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, just to make sure she was still there.

He couldn't be sure after the nightmare he had.

Annabeth, sleepy-eyed, asked Percy what was wrong.

He simply said: 'Nightmare'

To which she replied, "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."

Still, Percy couldn't get back to sleep. He just kept remembering his dream.

He dreamed that Annabeth and been taken.

And tortured to death in front of his very eyes.

Just because it hadn't actually happened didn't make it any less terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is slightly different on ff, because there was a typo. It was originally:
> 
> Percy woke up in a cold sweat.
> 
> He had had a nightmare.
> 
> He put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, just to make sure she was still there.
> 
> He couldn't be sure after the nightmare he had.
> 
> Annabeth, sleepy-eyed, asked Percy what was wrong.
> 
> He simply said: 'Nightmare'
> 
> To which she replied, "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."
> 
> Still, Percy couldn't get back to sleep. He just kept remembering his dream.
> 
> He dreamed that Annabeth and been taken.
> 
> And tortured to death in front of his very eyes.
> 
> And just because it had actually happened didn't make it any less terrifying.
> 
> ff word count counts contractions as two words, so I took away the 'And' from the last line and changed 'had' to 'hadn't', so that if it were posted on ff it would still be 108 words.


	11. The One to Remember

Leo closed his eyes.

He tried with all his might to remember.

But he couldn't.

His obsession over remembering had caused him only to forget faster.

He thought it was just so unfair.

Echo had been brought back only to try desperately to save someone who didn't deserve it.

He opened his eyes, but he couldn't believe them at first.

Well, first he didn't notice.

Until she moved.

He was stunned.

He reached out to touch her face, the face he had tried so hard to remember.

But when he did, he wished he hadn't.

She wasn't really here.

It was his imagination.

He broke down, and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I recall correctly, this had once been posted as its own story called Echo.


	12. Annabeth Forever

Percy sweat feverishly in the taxi.

He was wearing a Brooks Brothers' suit, and holding a small box in his left hand.

He realized with a start that Annabeth would probably be wearing formal attire, scratch that, _would_ be wearing formal attire, and that nearly caused him to puke.

He fought _monsters_ for a living, for Gods' sakes.

Why were eight words making him hospital worthy?

As he met Annabeth outside the restaurant, he nearly died, due to his forgetting of how to breathe.

As they ate their meal, he got more and more confident.

He dropped to one knee.

"Annabeth? I love you. Will you marry me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheh. This chapter was inspired by me finding out what a Brooks Brothers' was. Also I changed seven to eight because I apparently can't count.


	13. Cheating?

Annabeth hated Percy.

How could he be so stupid?

Right in her own cabin, with her half-sister no less!

Sure, she hadn't _seen_ them doing anything, but he was a _guy_ , and she was a _girl_ , and they were _alone_!

And right before her birthday!

How could Percy do this to her?

* * *

_Before_

Percy looked nervous as he knocked on the door of the Athena cabin, wondering what he would do if Annabeth was inside.

Suddenly the door opened.

A beautiful girl who looked like Annabeth ushered Percy inside.

The girl spoke. "I see you made it."

"Yeah. What should I get Annabeth for her birthday?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an interesting one. Because 'Before' is included in the word count, but it technically isn't part of the story. Anyway, I like to think Annabeth is pregnant but doesn't know yet in this one, which is why she's more emotional and snaps to judgement more quickly than we see in the books.


	14. Calypso Waits

Calypso closed her eyes.

She could still hear the hammering of the forge ringing in her ears.

That was good.

Someone else might have thought they were going crazy.

Not her.

She was just glad to have something to remember him by.

Everything was as he had left it.

But he was still gone.

And he was never coming back.

She knew that.

But she hoped.

Gods, she hoped.

She thought about who would be next, despite herself.

She thought, but all she could see was Leo's face.

She entertained the thought of suicide, but she couldn't exactly die could she?

Instead, she wished Leo speed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this one was its own story at some point, too.


	15. The Moon and the Tides

Percy walked along the beach, feeling the tide beneath his feet, looking up at the night sky, with the moon at its fullest.

He realized with a start that this was Artemis, in a way. But it wasn't. Not exactly, anyways.

Still, he felt an undeniable pull towards Artemis, just as the moon pulls the tides.

He wondered what that meant.

He did not love Artemis.

But she would always have control over him.

Not complete control, though.

Just as much as the moon over the tides.

The moon wasn't constant, and neither was her pull on him.

The sea does not like to be restrained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which I acknowledge that Pertemis makes a tiny bit of sense, kind of.


	16. Annabeth Focuses

Annabeth was in the middle of a final exam.

But she could only think about Percy.

She knew she had to focus, or she'd never pass.

She tried her hardest to integrate, find the limit, derive, and do it all over again, but she could only think about the way his jet black bangs hung over his sea green eyes, or the way his toned body glistened after he got out of the water.

It was infuriating.

All she wanted was to pass this test, and then she could go see him.

The sooner she finished, the sooner she could see Percy again.

She needed to focus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another og universe one. It's alright.


	17. The Poison of Treachery

His feet hurt.

His hands hurt.

His head hurt.

His heart hurt.

His entire body and soul screamed a sort of numbed pain as he trudged through the snow, deeper into the darkness.

Rejected by his family and the one he loved, the one he thought loved him, he believed had no other choice.

As he thought of the one he loved, her smile, her laugh, they tainted his memories with a seeping poison.

Everything he thought he remembered was tainted by this woman's betrayal, and his mind turned sour.

He didn't even realize that as he walked, he was transformed into a shadow of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this one. I don't imagine it being Percy.


	18. Percy's Sick

Percy was sick.

And not normal sick, either; he was demigod sick.

Every time he sneezed, snot flew across his cabin.

Ambrosia and nectar did nothing to help.

The Apollo cabin had given him some "special" medicine, but he wasn't sure it was doing anything at all. Probably a placebo.

He got an Iris message from Annabeth, and they talked for a while, and he felt happier, but then a particularly vicious sneeze flung snot through the image and broke the connection.

She had to teach, anyways.

He tried to sleep, but the pain kept him awake long into the night.

Percy was sick of being sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's kinda lame.


	19. Vengeance

"That's horrible!" she said.

"That's life," he replied.

The muscular man lowered his shirt, concealing the innumerable scars once again.

"Don't you ever want to seek vengeance against him in Hades?" the young woman asked.

"Why would I?" he returned. "I killed him, so he can't hurt anyone else. Let the Furies handle that prick. Hurting him won't heal my scars."

"So you're saying all you can do is try to make peace with it? That's hardly fair," the woman wondered out loud.

"As I said, that is life."

The man continued walking, and the girl scrambled just to keep up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is set in the past.


	20. Hope

Hestia sat by the fire in Camp Halfblood, stoking the flames.

It didn't bother her much that almost no one ever stopped to say hello.

After all, hope is something that you only notice when you have nothing left.

She was perfectly fine not being noticed.

It meant only that she was not needed.

And if you do not need hope, that is a very good sign.

But when someone _did_ need hope, she would be there.

That Nico boy had been very kind to her, and she pitied him.

He must have needed hope very badly.

She would always be there for those who needed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's kinda sad, but I liked writing it.


	21. Murky Sight

"Listen, now that we're together, they _will_ target you to get to me. I'm sorry, but... there's nothing I can do. Even if I left you, they would still come."

"I know they will come, my love. But it doesn't bother me. I know you'll save me."

"But if I can't, I need you to know how to save yourself. Take my sword. I will teach you. Use it to defend yourself."

"But how will I know when, if I am not clear sighted?"

"The same way the ancient mortals saw through the mist, sighted clear or not. You need only believe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When a generic demigod and a normal mortal fall in love.


	22. Humanity Survives Again

Percy had always assumed he would become an emotionless husk if his family were killed.

He was wrong.

Having transcended the power of mortals, his rage became a global catastrophe.

Class 5 hurricanes grew from nothing into death dealing machines on a daily basis.

The whole eastern seaboard, despite having no fault lines, became a place of ruin from the constant record shattering earthquakes.

The resulting tsunamis carried across the entire Atlantic, reaching even other continents.

The end times.

Millions of deaths. Trillions of dollars.

Only the gods held sorrow for him now.

For them, even if half the world died, they merely thought, "Oh, humanity survives again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember what the last line of this came from, but I seem to recall it not being something I came up with. Does that make me a bad person?


	23. A Most Unfortunate Prophecy

A week to love, a week to kill,

A weak mind holds a weak will,

Life of lover, death of brother,

In keeping one, take the other,

So as it always was, so as it always is;

One dies, one lives.

A week of grief, a week of tears,

A week of minutes, not week of years,

Weak legs cannot withstand,

Weak ears cannot understand,

Weak hearts cannot demand,

Weak starts leak like sand,

Week of this, week of that,

A week begot, a week begat.

A week to love, a week to kill,

So as it always was, so as it always is;

One dies, one lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is decidedly dumb, but I'll explain it if I can. It's a prophecy from the oracle, basically saying the asker must either kill his lover or his brother will die. Other than that, it's basically meaningless.


	24. Caretaker

"What is this place?" one child asked another.

"I dunno. It seems like a forest clearing, but..." the second responded.

One gasped.

"What is that?!" They pointed at the ground and shouted in fear.

The other looked and gasped as well.

The two silently walked around the clearing, looking at the ground, growing more and more frightened.

"Show some respect for the dead," a male voice said from behind them, and they turned in fear.

An aging man, black hair and green eyes, walked toward them.

"What?" One asked tentatively.

"This was once a home," he said wistfully. "But no longer."

They gulped audibly.

"This is a graveyard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about this one for a long time. It was inspired by a graveyard sort of nearish to where I live. It's an abandoned church in the woods that burned down, I think, it's all ruins, but the graves are all still there, just in the forest. And so I imagined that in another hundred years, maybe no one will even know it's a graveyard anymore. In this story, Camp Halfblood is gone. It can sort of be seen as a continuation of the first chapter, if Percy was immortal somehow and kept trying to care for the ruins of camp for a thousand years.


	25. Wait and We Wait

Sirens.

"Wait," he said, calmly. "Wait."

"They're coming!" she nearly shouted.

"I know." he placated, ever sure. "I hear them. But we wait."

Looking down at his sat-phone, he announced, "Death Boy, G-Man, talk to me."

"What are you thinking?!" she panicked. "We have to go, _now!_ "

"Nothing in my mind, but getting in that door."

Ignoring her, he calmly repeated, "G-Man, Death Boy, which will it be?"

Hearing the answer he wanted, he turned in position, before easily walking through.

He turned back, held high a bar of gold, and said, " _This_ is why we're waiting. _This_ is what we live for."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is entirely inspired by the song 17 @ 17 by The Upbeat. It's actually a song about surfing, but when I first heard it, I thought that the surf forecast on the radio was a police scanner, and they were robbing a bank or something. Many lines in this story are direct parallels of lines in the song. For example, "Death Boy, G-Man, talk to me. G-Man, Death Boy, which will it be?" is the parallel of "Rinkon, Jelly Bowl, talk to me. Jelly Bowl, Rinkon, which shall it be?" in the song. Jelly Bowl and Rinkon are beaches in California; they're trying to figure out which beach to go to for the best waves so they can surf. Also in the song: "Wait and we wait, for a set you create, see something macking, I start packing. Feel, and it's real as I turn in position, hop and I drop, I make my transition. Nothing in my mind, but getting in that door. This is why we waiting, this is what we live for! We wait and we wait. Wait. Wait and we wait. I said we wait!" It's one of my favorite songs, ever, and I've always thought Percy and the gang being robbers would make an awesome story. But this is the best I've got.


	26. Your Reward

"Is this it?" she grumbled. "This is what you asked for?"

_Now that you've found your paradise,_

_This is your kingdom to command:_

"Yeah," he answered. "This is it."

_You can go outside, and polish your car,_

_Or sit, by the fire, in your Shangri-La._

"You saved the whole fucking planet!"

_Here's your reward, for working so hard,_

_Gone are the lavatories, in the backyard,_

"How many unclaimed are still out there?! You didn't get anything! You could have been a god, Percy!"

_Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car,_

_You just want to sit, in your Shangri-La._

"I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter was based on a song, and some of the lines in the story were from the song. This story, however, just has the song in it. Shangri-La, by the Kinks. It's an amazing song, and I've always thought the beginning would make for a great story. In my head, it would be cool if there were a medieval fantasy story had a modern person in it, but instead of getting involved in fighting, they just become a bard because they know so much music from living in present times. Anyways, I might make a story like that, but giving an OC a prominent role in a story without it coming off as a self insert is really challenging, and I doubt I could do it.
> 
> This chapter has Percy and Rachel in it.


	27. A Happy One

"It's either you, or me, and it _isn't_ gonna be me," he said, face grim, shoulders tense.

"Don't give me that sass, Percy," Annabeth teased.

Immediately, the serious look on Percy's face was replaced by an adorable (according to Annabeth) pout.

"But I've done it the last _five times_ ," the petulant man-child whined.

Annabeth neared him, tapped his nose with her finger, and asked him breathily, "And just whose fault is that? I don't remember asking you to do the dishes when you _knew_ it was my turn."

If one kiss wasn't enough to persuade him, well...

Two kisses were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this one. Inspired entirely by a line the player character in Dragon Age: Origins sometimes says when you order an attack. "It's either you, or me, and it isn't gonna be me!" I wanted to see if I could write a story that started like that, but was happy.


	28. Dead

"Trust me. She wants me dead."

"Don't be ridiculous. Why would a goddess want you dead?"

A blush slowly crept onto his face. "Various reasons."

Grover bleated. "You didn't. Perce, you did not."

"Might have done."

Another, more panicked bleat. "I'm havin' a hard time here, Perce. I seem to be misunderstanding you, _bad_. Because it _seems_ like you _slept_ with a _goddess_. But, _obviously_ , you didn't, _right_? Because that's _insane. Right_ , Percy?"

"Right. That _is_ insane."

"Oh gods, you did. Percy, you used protection, like a responsible adult would have. Right, Percy?"

"Right. That _is_ what a responsible adult would have done."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By far my favorite chapter I've written. It's just so damn funny. I feel like Percy would be the kind of person to get caught up in the moment and forget to put on a condom, but then he would totally be the best dad ever if he got someone pregnant. Because even though he's no responsible adult, he's loyal to a fault. I really, really want to write a story where this happens. And the goddess is unspecified for a reason. I actually got this from a prompt generator. The prompt was to start a story with the line "I'm of more use to her dead than alive." I changed it a little, but it turned out alright.


	29. How About It

"Hands up!" a particularly upset Zoe shouted, gun drawn.

Percy's hands raised as he turned from the fridge with a carton of ice cream and a sheepish grin.

"Need something, love?"

"Ha! Don't play games. You _knew_ I was saving that!"

"Then, what are you going to do?" he asked scandalously.

"I'll... I'll... arrest you! For theft!" she blushed.

"Oh?"

He left the dessert behind as he disarmed her, his breath on her neck sending shivers shooting down her spine.

"Well?" he breathed. "Am I under arrest, or not?"

She kissed him violently, before nodding grumpily.

"Yes! Stole my Rocky Road." _And my heart._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another one of my favorites. This one was also written based on a prompt. It was to write a story that starts with the line, "So, am I getting arrested, or what?" But I thought it would be funnier if that was the last line, instead. In this story, Zoe gets kicked out of the hunt, or leaves voluntarily, rather, and becomes a policewoman, hence the gun and the arrest thing.


	30. Night to Night

Bow drawn, arrow nocked and ready for loosing, the boy stared at his former friend, brother, who lay dying on the ground, with their sister dead next to him.

"Why'd you do this?" he whimpered, mostly to himself. "Why did it have to be this way?"

Anguished, he threw his head back to Percy and shouted, "Give me the order!"

When Percy was less than forthcoming with it, he teared up and screamed over his shoulder, "GIVE ME THE ORDER!"

Percy walked up to the boy, who couldn't have been older than 14, and grasped the hand holding the arrow.

"Stand down, soldier," Percy ordered gently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter based on a song. Only this time, none of the song is in the story. Just the title. It comes from Tarzan Boy by Baltimora. There's a repeated part, "Night to night. Gimme the other, gimme the other," but I always heard it as "Gimme the order," and so here we are.


	31. Keyword

"In this world, there is a remedy for everything, but there is no medicine for regret," he said solemnly.

"So you finally admit you regret what you did?" she interrogated angrily, but with all the fierceness of a startled cat.

"I've always regretted it," he admitted.

"Then why did you ever even do it?" she asked tearfully.

"I made a mistake, Thalia. Blame it on the hormones, young stupidity, anger, loneliness, whatever you want, but the fact remains that I made a mistake. A mistake I thought I could never make up for."

"And so you just left?"

"I thought... that's what you wanted."

"Keyword: thought."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is inspired by the Chinese saying, "There is no such thing as medicine for regret." Is this another story involving Percy getting someone pregnant by accident, hmm? No. It was something else. But, good guess.


	32. Anyway

"Please tell me you aren't leaving. Please."

"I just don't know. I want to stay, but I feel like I have to go. I have a duty to keep others safe."

"But not me?"

"You know as well as I do that nowhere could be safer than here."

"But... but, we've got wine to drink! Twenty three bottles!"

"An enticing offer, but wine exists in places other than here, you know."

"I... I need you. Okay, I said it, I need you. Please don't go."

"...fine. I may leave some day, but for now I'll stay. Besides... all my stuff's here anyway."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a surprise, another chapter inspired by a song. This time, it's Pinch Me by Barenaked Ladies. It's not my favorite song, but there are a lot of good lines in it. The last line of the story is practically just a line from the song. "I could leave, but I'll just stay. All my stuff's here, anyway."


	33. Cat's in the Cradle

"Your father was the bravest man who ever lived," she always started.

"But not the smartest. He would be so proud of you, our little genius."

"There was this one test he had to take, back in college. He acted like the world was ending-can you believe your father?"

The child giggled, "Yes,"

"The man saved the world three times already, but he moaned about that test for days."

She wiped away tears.

"But he always made himself pass. He said... he wanted a normal job, so you could live a normal life. He..."

"Are you okay, Mommy?"

"Mommy's okay, Teddy. She just misses your father."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time, just the title is from a song. Cat's In The Cradle by Harry Chapin. Do I sob hysterically every time I hear that song? Yes. Is my relationship with my dad in any way reminiscent of the song? No, not at all. Something about it just makes me break down.
> 
> Anyway, this is Annabeth and her son, Teddy. His name is Theseus, or Theo for short, which is short for Theodore, which also has the nickname Teddy. Percy died while Annabeth was still pregnant, and so naming her son Theseus couldn't have brought that much bad luck, since his dad was already dead. Theseus from mythology basically killed his dad via sheer forgetfulness, if you'd forgotten or didn't know. Black sails, man. Gotta change 'em.


End file.
